I Left You Once
by FreeRadicals
Summary: Keith had been alone for a long time. Learning how not to be turned out to be more difficult than he expected.


**A/N: This is really more of a drabble than a fic, and more of a headcanon than a drabble, but it's here anyways. It's my first fic ever, so even though it's kind of bad, I'm pretty proud of it. I am really, really bad at coming up with titles, so I used a quote from the show, but I think it works?  
**

...

Keith had been alone for a long time.

His mother had left before he really knew her, his father had died when Keith was a little kid.

Keith had felt angry. Angry at his parents for leaving him alone, angry at the world for allowing such things to even happen. Angry at himself, because why would he be alone for so long if it wasn't his own fault? Things like that can't possibly just happen by chance.

Keith had felt sad. Sad that he'd lost so much. He'd lost his parents, he'd lost his childhood, he'd lost his place on Team Voltron, he'd lost Shiro _twice_.

Mostly, though, he'd just felt lonely.

It didn't matter how mad he was that his mother had left him, he knew that the second she showed any interest in even slightly being his mother again, he'd do whatever she wanted. He needed someone to fill that empty place, to end the loneliness. He'd been looking for a family, for _his_ family, for so long.

So when he went on that mission with Krolia, and she turned out to be his mother, he tried to put aside all the anger he had felt before.

He could make this work. He could have a family. He wouldn't ruin it this time.

...

After that mission it went a bit like this:

When Krolia wanted to spend time with Keith, Keith would be with Krolia. When Krolia didn't, Keith would be elsewhere.

If Krolia didn't want to talk about something, Keith wouldn't pressure her. He didn't ask questions. Not about why she left, not about what his dad was like, not about how she and his dad had met, not about what she thought about that last mission with the Blade.

He wouldn't push her. If she wanted him to know, she would have told him. If he bothered her, or pressured her, she could leave.

So Keith was hugged when Krolia wanted to hug Keith. Keith was talked to when Krolia wanted to talk to Keith. It didn't matter to Keith what Keith wanted, because all he really wanted was for his mother not to leave again anyways.

Things were good enough. Probably.

...

They thought they were on the same page. They weren't even in the same book.

Krolia wanted to spend time with Keith, and Keith wanted to spend time with Krolia. They spent time together and they spent time apart.

They talked to each other, but Keith seemed to not want to know much about why Krolia had left, or about his father. He didn't seem to want to ask many questions.

She didn't tell him anything he didn't seem to want to know. If he wanted to know, he would have asked. She didn't want to make him uncomfortable, bringing up something that happened in the past, not if he wanted to move past it.

So they hugged, they talked to each other. What mattered to Krolia was what Keith wanted to do. If this is what he wanted to do with her she would do it, all that mattered was that she was with her son again.

It was perfect, as in it wasn't nearly perfect at all, but they ignored any problem.

...

Eventually things had to change.

Keith was bottling up too much, Krolia was holding back too much, and inevitably, they exploded.

It ended up in shouting (mostly from Keith, somewhat from Krolia, though Keith had tried so hard not to shout), which lead to crying (fairly equally from Keith and Krolia, though Keith had promised himself he wouldn't cry).

Keith loved his mother, and was terrified of losing her again, of being abandoned again. He was so, so angry at himself for slipping up, for shouting at her, for pushing her away, for ruining everything.

Krolia loved her son, and was terrified of hurting him again, of him feeling so lost and abandoned again. She was so, so angry at herself for not noticing, for letting it get this bad, for letting him be hurt by himself, for hurting him.

It took a lot of time, and a lot of patience (which yielded focus), and a lot of communication, but eventually they were in the same book, finding the same chapter, on their way to being on the same page.

...

Keith started to ask questions. He pushed Krolia to answer, but never too far. Krolia really wanted to talk about those things anyways, You can't move forward from the past without understanding it.

He eventually found out why his mother had left, what his dad had been like, how his parents had met, even her thoughts on that last mission with the Blade.

They spent time together when both of them wanted to be together. They started training together, learning about each other. They hugged each other when both of them wanted to be hugged. They talked to each other when both of them wanted to talk.

It mattered what both of them wanted, and both of them wanted the other to feel happy and safe and comfortable. They wanted to know each other, and to stay with each other. They wanted to be a family, and they were going to be one. They'd both lost too many people, and they weren't going to let go of each other any time soon.

They could make it work, they could be a family again.

It was perfect, as in it wasn't nearly perfect at all, but they worked to fix any problem.

...

 **I don't own the Voltron franchise, the show Voltron: Legendary Defender, or anything related.**

 **Also if you liked this fic come talk to me on tumblr, my Voltron blog is redspaladinkeith . tumblr . com**


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